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Week of January 1, 2006
Xbox Game Saves Work on Xbox 360
>> Over at xboxhacker.net Rymez2K managed to make an (original) Xbox gamesave work on his Xbox 360.
He created a gamesave in FIFA 2004 on his (modded) Xbox(1), ftp-ed it (UDATA\4541003b and TDATA\4541003b) to his PC. To get it on the Xbox 360 HD it's a bit more complicated of course ... he used the newly released big-endian FATX support in the Linux kernel to read the Xbox 360 FATX partitions via his PC.
Using the linux 'dd' command he made an image of the second FATX partition, mounted the image (that linux understands thanks to the new big-endian FATX support), copied the UDATA and TDATA dirs with the FIFA2004 gamesave to the mounted image, unmounted the image and 'dd'-ed it back to the Xbox 360 HD. More details about how he did it is available on xboxhacker.net or xboxhacker.net forums[Please remember if you choose to participate that this thread is for technical discussion only, thanks!]
After that he managed to load the FIFA2004 gamesave from his Xbox 360.
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(Saturday 07 January 2006 22:26 EST) - (Category: Xbox360) - (Posted by::
)
More New Content on Mimesis
>> More content has been added to Mimesis(info) - a content distribution app for legal modded game content:
[QUOTE]
Uber_n00b is a madman! Thanks to him we have another set of packages up tonight, check them out below and enjoy.
If you see Uber_n00b in the forums be sure to thank him for all of his hard work.
* AIOFPM v3.0.1 (StarWars: Knights Of The Old Republic)
The All-In-One Force Power Mod is a compilation made from several major mods including new force powers, items, and merchants.
* Carth Romance Fix (StarWars: Knights Of The Old Republic)
An alternate romance to Carth and the female Revan which vastly improves the original.
* Tomb King's Robes (StarWars: Knights Of The Old Republic)
The first time you enter the desert on Tatooine Tomb King will be behind the sandcrawler. Defeat him and claim his robes.
* Evil Temple (StarWars: Knights Of The Old Republic)
Allows the player to enter the Rakatan Temple with any party members and allows Juhani to join the dark side afterwards.
* SaD Map Pack One (Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow)
Created by a variety of authors, this is the second map pack from the Team SaD. These maps was ported to the Xbox by [SaD]Dietz.
[/QUOTE]
Official Site: http://www.projectmimesis.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Team Xecuter Updates: X3IR, X3 Config Live Skin, Xbox 360
>> From teamxecuter.com:
[QUOTE]
* X3 IR
Here is the first official photograph of the new X3 IR hardware. As you can see there is a serial programmer module which enables to ability to update the hardware with new infra red codes via the learning function. The software (X3 IR Manager) is currently at v1.1.6 and tweeks are still bing implemented. You should expect these in stores within the next couple of weeks - remember the first batch of customers will receive an X3 Pro Switch ($20 RRP) completely free of charge as a thank you for your patience and loyalty!
* Xbox 360
It is great to see such a huge community input into the openeing up of the 360. Two websites of note (one a returning old freind) are worth keeping bookmarked, they have some interesting discoveries and observations.
www.xboxhacker.net
www.free60.org
Of course for the latest news and updates you should be looking at www.xbox-scene.com but we shouldn't have to tell you that.
For a completely "hacked" 360 don't expect anything on the scale of the first Xbox - at least not for a long, long time, however you can expect to see a hack of some sort soon - not only from Xecuter(info) but from at least one other group of guys we have spoken to. Unsigned code is looking unlikely atm but booting of raw dumps maybe quite possible - but no where near as much fun or scope as Xbox1 mods. Kudos to M$ for their security on this one, however there is always a way.....
On a non-hacking note, we have licenced a number of Xbox 360 hardware add-on designs to a couple of companies ready to be announced soon.
* X3 Config Live
We just noticed a nice Xbox 360 skin over at allxboxskins - go check it out if you have an X3
X3CL 360 Skin
In the meantime we hope you all have a successful new year.
[/QUOTE]
Official Site: http://www.teamxecuter.com
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(Friday 06 January 2006 23:59 EST) - (Category: Xbox_Xbox360) - (Posted by::
)
Gates and Ballmer about Xbox 360
>> CNet has an interesting interview with Gates and Ballmer. On page 3 they speak about the Xbox 360:
[QUOTE]
CNet: How big a dent do you think you've put in Sony? ?
* Gates: We know what it's like to go second. We've tried that. And that was last time. Last time was very different in that, if I bought a PS2 and you bought an Xbox, we'd go to your house and play PS2, we'd go to my house and play Xbox.
So it works, when it becomes this "Live" thing, that you're accumulating your achievements and all that, and anybody can play with anybody. (If) I bought an Xbox, when you go to buy a machine--whether it's 2006, 2007--if you want to play with me in Live, which is what the thing is all about, then you need to buy that same machine.
So we've got that leading-edge group, most of whom won't buy two machines--some will, but they're telling their friends, look, connect up to me, and that's done with Xbox. So going first was more important in this generation than in any generation there has ever been.
* Ballmer: The Live advantage is...there's no Sony announcement for a Live equivalent type deal. We had, if anything, a cost disadvantage last generation. If anything, depending on what they do with (Blu-Ray disc support), we're not going to have a cost disadvantage this time.
[/QUOTE]
Read More: news.com, or just the Xbox360 part on page 3.
In a separated article they talk a bit about what's on their Xbox:
[QUOTE]
"Fortunately I had some young kids around who were showing me around all this stuff," Gates said in an interview with CNET News.com. "I played a lot of Project Gotham, a lot of Hexic, a lot of Zuma."
Ballmer said Xbox 360 has been welcome at home.
"Unlike Xbox 1, my wife thinks it's a good addition to the house," Ballmer said, adding that Microsoft hopes to reach more women, as well as a broader age range.
Despite some early experience, neither Gates nor Ballmer claims to be a pro. The two came onstage at the Consumer Electronics Show here to show off "Fight Night: Round 3," from EA Sports, opting for a staged fight rather than a test of their own pugilistic skills.
[/QUOTE]
Read More: news.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Japan Week4: DOA4 sells 12,300 Xbox 360 Consoles
>> Gamasutra.com posted the new M-Create hardware sales for the week of 26 december 2005 - 01 January 2006:
[QUOTE]
Also of note is the delayed release of Dead or Alive 4 at number thirteen in the charts, with less than 61,000 units sold. A significant proportion of these sales went to existing Xbox 360 owners, with hardware sales only doubling to 12,300 units. This suggests the title may only appeal to a relative hardcore of users, with the various Mistwalker role-playing games now looking like the only obvious chance for Microsoft to gain real ground in Japan.
[/QUOTE]
With the release of DOA4 the Xbox 360 HW sales doubled compared to last week, but still far off the PS2 (78,646 units) and even the GameCube sold a bit better with 12,579 units. Only the original Xbox did worse with 121 units.
Read More: gamasutra.com
UPDATE: There's an interesting article about the launch of the Xbox 360 in Japan on 4colorrebellion.com:
[QUOTE]
McDonalds knew that some of its tastes would not appeal to the Japanese so they changed their menus. Along with the standard Big Macs and fries they also have Teriyaki burgers, fried shrimp burgers, and other things for the Japanese pallet. They didn't force the American tastes on the Japanese and thus, they thrived. Now look at the Japanese Xbox 360 launch lineup. First person Shooters, sports and car games. Games that sell really well in America but other than the car games are not to the Japanese taste. Had they launched with RPGs, simulation games, party games, gambling games and fighters, they might have done a whole lot better. McDonalds changed their company for the Japanese taste. Microsoft tried to change the Japanese taste for their company.
[/QUOTE]
Read More: 4colorrebellion.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
PIRSTools
>> From readme/nfo/free60:
[QUOTE]
Description: Set of utilities to work with the PIRS file format.
PIRS or LIVE are the magic bytes that start most files on the Xbox 360. It would appear that this is a generic container file that holds the real files along with metadata that the dashboard reads like title, description and icon.
Usage: "pirs [pirs file] [output directory]" will dump the PIRS file contents
History:
* 2006-1-06 (pedrospad): Ported for use in windows.
* 2005-12-13 (superjedi): Fixed a bug in pirs_get_titles () and pirs_get_descriptions ()
* 2005-12-11 (superjedi): First release, version 0.1
* 2005-12-11 (superjedi): All the functions have been splitted in a library, libpirs
[/QUOTE]
Official Site: http://www.free60.org (Windows port by pedrospad)
Download Binaries for Windows: here
Download Sources (for Linux): here
News-Source: xbins.org
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Xbox 360 Controller Info and OS-X Driver
>> Some interesting news posted over at xboxhacker.net:
[QUOTE]
I saw on IRC that Electric_Monk has released an OS-X driver for the Xbox 360 Controller:
I have created a USB driver which allows you to use the XBox 360 Controller on an OSX machine, including support for the Apple Force Feedback library. I plan to release this as Open Source using the GNU Public License, but intend to tidy the code up a little first - so the initial release for people to try is binary only ;)
The ZIP file contains an installer package, which when run will install the driver, along with a preference pane to test/configure it.
Currently, the following settings need implemented:
* I don't think settings are persistent
* More settings, e.g. trigger deadzone, button remap/
* Force feedback may elongate effects
* Force feedback (DirectInput-style interface) emulator may need more work
* Preference pane currently only tests rumble motors, by creating a force feedback interface but then just using the Escape functionality
* Driver needs to handle more possible errors.
He also has posted a good bit of information about communicating with the controller on his page.
[/QUOTE]
Official Site: http://mice-software.com/other/xbox.html
Download: here
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
X-C-K: Xbox Capture Kit
>> From readme/nfo:
[QUOTE]
XCK (Xbox Capture Kit) is the newest and best way to capture your xbox . You can use this kit to connect to your Xbox on the fly (while playing games) it'll also allow you to take screenshots with gauranteed less lag than other apps.
You can also capture video with as little as NO LAG depending on quality. The perfect pack for people who have debug setup on their xbox if you're using Xbox Image Grabber(info), give this a try :P
[/QUOTE]
Official Site: n/a, by OBIE
Download: n/a (contains XDK files)
News-Source/Full Readme: xbins.org
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Xbox 360 ATX Power Supply
>> HackADay.com posted about how to replace the Xbox 360 A/C unit with a PC ATX power supply:
[QUOTE]
For anyone who is having problems with their Xbox 360 power supply, or who (like me) have managed to end up with a burnt out PSU and can't get a replacement, here's how I managed to run the console off a standard ATX computer power supply.
I have been running my console off a 250W computer PSU for a week now with no problems - of course there are no guarantees and if you decide to do what I did I accept no responsibility for what happens, the only thing I know for sure is that it worked for me.
[/QUOTE]
Check out the full article on hackaday.com.
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
CNN's Chris Morris - HD-DVD: Microsoft's folly?
>> Chris Morris wrote about the announcement from Microsoft to release an external HD-DVD addon for the Xbox 360 in Game Over, his weekly column on CNN Money:
[QUOTE]
At present, Microsoft says the HD-DVD will only be for movies. There are no current plans to offer games on HD-DVDs.
That could - and very likely will - change, of course. As developers begin to truly take advantage of the system's features in the coming months and years, you're going to see games that cannot fit onto a single DVD.
Game developers are in something of a bind, though. Even if Microsoft opens up the HD-DVD player for game software and even if sales of the peripheral soar, game makers will still have to publish two versions of the game, which could confuse and frustrate consumers.
Microsoft pointedly avoided discussing a price Wednesday, but the new drives aren't likely to be cheap. Toshiba recently announced plans to sell a stand-alone HD-DVD player for $499. Even if Microsoft's version sells for considerably less, you're still likely to see a price tag equal to or greater than the price of the core Xbox 360 unit.
Ultimately, the availability of a HD-DVD accessory probably won't hurt or help Microsoft. It will serve its purpose, though: Preventing Sony from being able to accurately say the PS3 is the only game machine with a high definition DVD drive. And as the battle between those two companies escalates this year, that's no small thing.
[/QUOTE]
Read More: money.cnn.com.
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Xbox 360 HD-DVD for Movies only and No Internal HD-DVD Planned
>> A bit more details on gamespot.com about the HD-DVD drive for Xbox 360 announced yesterday at CES:
[QUOTE]
Peter Moore clarified to GameSpot that the new external Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive will be used for video only, not games.
"Right now it's focused purely on movie playback. Think of the drive as something that lets you play high-definition movies on the Xbox 360." The external drive will function as an alternative to purchasing a separate HD-DVD playback device: "If you want to watch HD-DVD movies and if you own an Xbox 360, there will be no reason for you to go out and buy another player."
Microsoft hasn't announced a price point for the HD-DVD drive or possible system bundles, but Moore made it clear that Microsoft will not create a new Xbox 360 with a built-in HD-DVD drive. "If you actually built a HD-DVD new Xbox 360, that fragments [the installation base] even further. So the idea of having an external peripheral is far better to keep the user base consistent rather than build yet another Xbox 360 that has HD-DVD built in--that means millions of people won't have that."
[/QUOTE]
Read More: gamespot.com
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(Thursday 05 January 2006 21:09 EST) - (Category: Xbox360) - (Posted by::
)
Circumvent The Xbox Live Demo Download Region Lockout
>> The guys over at gamersreports.com posted an article explaining how you can download marketplace content that is not available for your region.
North-Americans users usually get all content, but other regions often get new demos or movie trailer later or in the worst case never.
The 'Fight Night Round 3' demo for example, released yesterday in N-America, is not available in all countries.
The idea is fairly simple. Make a new passport .NET account (and apply for a hotmail account) and put as country the country where the demo/trailer is available. Then create a new profile on your Xbox 360 and chose for a free Xbox LIVE Silver account and link it with your new hotmail account you made above.
So, just make 3 new Xbox LIVE Silver accounts linked with a passport/hotmail account with US, Japanese and European address and you'll get access to everything ;)
Check out the full article on gamersreports.com.
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(Thursday 05 January 2006 20:34 EST) - (Category: Xbox360) - (Posted by::
)
The TeamXbox.com Guide to HDTV
>> TeamXbox posted a great article about HDTV. If you plan to buy an HDTV and you're confused by all the different technologies, this is the guide you need:
[QUOTE]
After the various emails we have received asking for the best HDTV for the Xbox 360, and with CES 2006 around the corner, we decided it was time to publish a guide that covers each major display technology and helps you in acquiring your next high definition TV.
For every technology we explain in this guide, we've recommended a specific model being we are constantly asked which television is the best for an Xbox 360 gamer. We have decided to boil it down to the essentials so we don't just tell you what HDTV to buy, but the reasons why it is a smart choice.
The following guide explains all the different display technologies, major advantages and disadvantages of each, and the preferred room size and price range.
[/QUOTE]
Go check it out on teamxbox.com
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(Thursday 05 January 2006 18:27 EST) - (Category: GamingGeneral) - (Posted by::
)
Xbox(360) Dumper v0.13
>>
The Xbox Dumper that can now also access big-endian FATX partitions on the Xbox 360 HDD (by oz_paulb) has been ported to Windows (by pedrospad). From readme/nfo:
[QUOTE]
This program allows files on an xbox(360) hard disk to be dumped out.
**UPDATE**: oz_paulb modified code to deal with Xbox360 images.
**UPDATE**: pedrospad ported to windows. 01/05/2006
See "XBOX360" define in the Makefile. Still a work in progress.
Two basic commands are supported:
xboxdumper list [partition number] [xbox image filename]
This will dump the directory tree of the specified partition.
xboxdumper dump [xbox filename] [output filename] [partition number] [image filename]
This will dump the file [xbox filename] into the file [output filename] from the specified partition number. The full directory path to the file using / or \ should be supplied.
[/QUOTE]
Official Site: Xbox-Linux CVS
Download: here
News-Source: xbins.org
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(Thursday 05 January 2006 17:34 EST) - (Category: Xbox_Xbox360) - (Posted by::
)
Microsoft's CES 2006 KeyNote: HD-DVD Addon Confirmed!
>> Microsoft's keynote at CES 2006 just finished. The videofeed of the full CES keynote is now available from Microsoft at 300kbps here, at 100kpbs here and at 56kbps here, only the audio is available from Major Nelson in mp3 here and wma here. The full transscript of the keynote is available from the Microsoft Press site here.
Below you can find our report of what they said about the Xbox360 (HD-DVD addon!) and Microsoft's official press release.
Our coverage of what they said about Xbox 360:
* They are showing Windows Vista (including pushing how great it'll be for gaming). They gave a demo of the next generation Microsoft Flight Simulator (expected in about a year) running on Vista and played with the Xbox 360 controller.
* Xbox coverage is starting ... we get a promotional video of the launch.
* Peter Moore on stage now ... talking about what they did so far (new partnerships, unprecendented global launch, announced original Xbox at CES 5 years ago, moving to market leaders, ...).
* They want to sell between 4.5 and 5.5 million Xbox360s by June 2006. Xbox 360 has an attach rate of 4 games and 3 accessoires per console.
* 3rd factory (Celestica) will be added next month for producing (assembling?) the Xbox 360, next to the Wistron and Flextronics factories.
* He's now telling how great Xbox LIVE is. 10% had LIVE on Xbox, 50% has LIVE on the Xbox 360 (gold and silver?).
* 4 million Xbox LIVE marketplace downloads since the Xbox 360 launch. Movie previews like Mission Impossible are very popular. Public of LIVE is as big as that of TV-shows like CSI.
* By March they are expecting 20 games on Live Arcade.
* Moore announced the Xbox 360 external HD-DVD drive (addon) for HD movie playback. No details, price or pictures for now. It'll be released 'this year' (2006).
* 9 out of 10 Xbox360 owners have bought or plan to buy a HDTV. 90% says primary reason to want a HDTV is the Xbox 360.
* More than 50 Xbox 360 high-definition games expected by the end of June.
* Al Bernstein (ESPN boxing analyst) is showcasting EA's 'Night Fight Round3'. Bill Gates as Muhammad Ali is playing against Steve Ballmer (Microsoft's Chief Executive Officer) as Frazier ... and Bill won. A demo of this game is now available from the Marketplace.
* The end.
Here's what they said about the Xbox360 in Microsoft's official press release about the CES keynote:
[QUOTE]
Just a month after the global launch of the new Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, Gates discussed the product's strong momentum in delivering high-definition hardware, games and digital entertainment experiences. Xbox 360 is on track to be the fastest-selling video game console ever, forecast to ship between 4.5 million and 5.5 million units worldwide by the end of June 2006.
Gates noted that Xbox 360 has also become a powerful application for high-definition television, adding that nine out of 10 Xbox 360 owners currently own or intend to purchase a high-definition television set. He announced that more than 50 new high-definition Xbox 360 games will be available by June 2006.
Building on Xbox 360 leadership in high-definition experiences, the company announced plans to deliver a new Xbox 360 external HD DVD drive in 2006. The new drive will offer millions of Xbox 360 owners the ability to easily enjoy HD DVD movies and will provide consumers with even more choices for experiencing high-definition content, in either physical or digital form.
Using Xbox 360 and the Xbox Live service today, consumers are already able to access high-definition entertainment such as Xbox Live Arcade titles, game demos and high-definition movie trailers. Consumers can also use their Xbox 360 system to access high-definition television and movies from their Windows XP-based Media Center PC.
Gates' keynote also showcased the momentum behind Xbox Live, announcing that more than half of all Xbox 360 owners are already connected to the online games and entertainment service, which boasts a worldwide community of more than 2 million members. He demonstrated Electronic Arts Inc.'s forthcoming EA SPORTS "Fight Night Round 3," scheduled to be available in February 2006, and announced that a free, playable high-definition demo of the game is now available at the Xbox Live Marketplace, a one-stop digital download center where consumers can access high-definition games, music and movie content from leading industry partners.
[/QUOTE]
Read the full press release (incl. lots of non-xbox related stuff) on microsoft.com.
Written live coverage (of the full keynote) is also available at engadget.com.
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(Wednesday 04 January 2006 21:49 EST) - (Category: Xbox360) - (Posted by::
)
Peter Moore Pre-CES Interview
>> Major Nelson (or Larry Hryb if you prefer, Microsoft's Xbox Live Director of Programming) posted an audio interview with Peter Moore prior to the CES keynote on his blog.
Go download the blogcast on majornelson.com.
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(Wednesday 04 January 2006 21:43 EST) - (Category: Xbox360) - (Posted by::
)
CES: Connect your 360 to an HDTV wirelessly using UWB
>> From the press release:
[QUOTE]
Pulse~LINK will showcase its Gigabit-rate CWave Ultra Wideband (UWB) platform featuring wireless and wired High Definition audio/video connectivity, HD gaming, and multimedia PC applications at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show, January 5-8, in Las Vegas.
Demonstrations include the industry's first wireless DVI/HDMI equivalent; ultra-low latency wireless HD gaming between an Xbox 360 and a HDTV; wireless PC to HDTV Flat Panel connections; and the first ever UWB over coax solution capable of supporting IEEE 1394 S400 (400 Mbps) throughput for whole-home connectivity.
Pulse~LINK's CWave UWB digital home connectivity solution enables simultaneous streaming of multiple HDTV programs, high quality multi-channel audio, and high speed data throughout the home. The PLK23300 is the first UWB chipset to deliver Gigabit data rates both wirelessly and over in-home wired media. Breakthrough applications include wireless DVI/HDMI and 1394 for real-time visually lossless HDTV and the ability to provide an interactive wireless connection between HD video game consoles and HD displays. Pulse~LINK's PLK23300 chipset samples will be available for wireless and coax solutions beginning Q1 2006.
[/QUOTE]
Read the whole press release on pulselink.net (via joystiq.com)
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(Wednesday 04 January 2006 20:04 EST) - (Category: Xbox360) - (Posted by::
)
Linux kernel 2.4.32-xbox patch
>> Team Xbox-Linux already released GNU diff-style patches for the 2.6 linux kernels for some time (latest is 2.6.14-Xbox).
They now also released patches for the 2.4 kernel. That will allow you to upgrade your Xbox Linux distro with 2.4 kernel to the latest 2.4.32 linux kernel.
Official Site: http://www.xbox-linux.org
Download 2.4 patches: here
Download 2.6 patches: here
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
New Content on Mimesis
>> There's some new content on Mimesis(info). From projectmimesis.com:
[QUOTE]
Thanks to the hard working Uber_n00b and Pyroman we all have some new content to play with! Check out the list of content added to the server today:
* Dead in the Water (Halo 2)
* KotOR Artefact & Miscellaneous I (Star Wars(info): Knights Of The Old Republic)
* Balance (Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic)
* Slaughter the Council (Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic)
* Operation Kill Bastilla (Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic)
* Mountain Falls (Ghost Recon 2)
* SaD Map Pack Two (Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow)
* Make Mission A Jedi Mod (Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic)
[/QUOTE]
Official Site: http://www.projectmimesis.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
XBConnect running on WinXP 64
>> From xbconnect.com:
[QUOTE]
The first 64 bit compatible tunnel is finally a reality. I have just finished playing my first game of Halo on XBConnect(info) and WinXP x64. Performance is what I expected and it runs real nice. While still alpha, I will be releasing this version to all XBC Pro users and any x64 user out there. Drop me an email at tod -AT- xbconnect.com and I'll get you in the queue.
[/QUOTE]
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Update on Tser's Shader Experiments
>> XboxHacker.net posted an update from Tser about his experiments with editing the shaders in the King Kong demo (More info here if you have no idea what this is about):
[QUOTE]
Tser has an update on his shader experiments in this thread. (Please remember if you choose to participate that this thread is for technical discussion, thanks!)
I have now Experienced 2 fatal Crashes already on my xbox, during my shader experiment.
When the Xbox crashes ...
* It Halt's itself with a freeze : the Screen which was active, remains. (one time, black screen, 1 time the loading.wmv file of king kong on a halt - )
* eject does not do anything
* USB Devices are not longer working
* Wireless Controler does not get connected
* Plugin in a USB Controler only lights up Left Corner, and Right Down Corner
* Unconnected Video Out Cable results in red flash, Reconnecting removes red light
* The only way to get your box back is to unplug the power cable
[/QUOTE]
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(Tuesday 03 January 2006 22:09 EST) - (Category: Xbox360) - (Posted by::
)
[H]ardOCP Water Cooled Xbox 360
>> The guys over at [H]ard|OCP built a water-cooled Xbox 360 and posted an article fully explaining how they did it and how 'cool' their 360 is:
[QUOTE]
Four years ago next month we built the world's first water cooled Xbox. At the time, a lot of people asked us why we would want to water cool an Xbox, mostly because they didn't understand the motivation behind it. The fact of the matter was that the standard heat sink on the 700MHz Intel processor would barely get hot under normal use and surely didn't warrant the performance offered by a custom water cooling kit. At the time, we did it simply because no one else had done it and "because we could." That was our motivation then and that is partially our motivation now.
We had plans to water cool an Xbox 360 for over a year now. Little did we know that not only will this water cooling project be more fun than the original, but it may even be practical. Imagine that. With reports of heat related issues and a heat sink that can get almost too hot to touch after marathon gaming sessions, the Xbox 360 water cooling project now had a sense of purpose. We bought a retail Xbox 360 specifically for this project. The minute we got it back to the [H] labs we tore into it and, with a little help from the fine folks at Koolance, we have put together a water cooling solution that will handle anything the Xbox 360 can throw at it and literally knock your socks off.
With stock Xbox 360 cooling, after an hour of Quake 4, the back of the motherboard temperature was 150.8ºF (66ºC).
With the water cooled Xbox 360, after an hour of Quake 4, the back of the motherboard was a full 50ºF cooler than stock cooling at 101ºF (38.4ºC).
[/QUOTE]
Check out the full article on hardocp.com.
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(Tuesday 03 January 2006 18:22 EST) - (Category: Xbox360) - (Posted by::
)
Will Microsoft Announce a HD DVD Xbox 360 at CES?
>> From TeamXbox.com:
[QUOTE]
Richard Doherty, an analyst from research firm Envisioneering Group, predicts that tomorrow Bill Gates' main message at his CES keynote will focus Windows Vista, the next-generation Windows, but Doherty also thinks Gates will talk about HD DVD as part of the Xbox 360.
Bill Gates' CES keynote is only 24 hours away so tomorrow we'll know if the analyst was right or if it was pure speculation based on the recent HD DVD, Blu-ray Disc war hype.
[/QUOTE]
Read More: teamxbox.com
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(Tuesday 03 January 2006 14:52 EST) - (Category: Xbox360) - (Posted by::
)
Microsoft's Xbox 360 Has Bumpy Quarter
>> From forbes.com:
[QUOTE]
"It is clear that something disrupted the supply of Xbox 360 shipments in the quarter, and there does not appear to be any end of year catch-up in shipments," Goldman Sachs analyst Rick Sherlund said in a report issued Monday. He believes Microsoft may have shipped only about 1.3 million units for the quarter.
"It appears to us that Microsoft may be producing at 600,000 to 800,000 units per month, likely adequate to meet our estimate of 2 million units for the March quarter," Sherlund said.
The analyst said the sales of the original Xbox may have fallen off more quickly than expected in the quarter, "as consumers neither substituted Xbox for Xbox 360 nor purchased as many games for the older console."
[/QUOTE]
Read More: forbes.com
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(Tuesday 03 January 2006 14:33 EST) - (Category: Xbox360) - (Posted by::
)
Updated Linux Xbox-DVD Unlocker
>> Smo released a new version of the Xbox DVD-Drive Unlocker(info) Linux on xboxhacker.net:
[QUOTE]
Ok, here's a new version of the Linux version of the unlocker. You'll need to apply the kernel patch (linux-2.6.14-mediachange.patch) to properly see the unlocked disk capacity. It just adds an IOCTL that calls saw_media_change(). You'll get an error if you don't apply the patch. However, for some reason dd won't produce nice images (maybe it has something to do with its error handling (tried with "dd conv=noerror bs=2048 skip=32 if=/dev/hdd of=disc.img")), so I'll probably need to write a proper dumper that stores the "bad sectors" in a separate file for future purposes.
But wait! There's something more. Perhaps you have heard of FUSE? FUSE stands for Filesystems in Userspace. I wrote a small FUSE driver that allows one to mount the XBOXDVDFS discs directly to the filesystem. You'll need to get FUSE from http://fuse.sourceforge.net and install it ("./configure ; make ; make install ; modprobe fuse" - remember to insert the kernel module). Then you can compile the xboxdvdfs.c driver:
# gcc -o xboxdvdfs xboxdvdfs.c -lfuse
Now, assuming you have not unlocked the DVD drive yet (which is "/dev/hdd" in this example), you run:
# ./unlocker /dev/hdd
# mkdir /mnt/xboxdvd
# ./xboxdvdfs /mnt/xboxdvd /dev/hdd
Root directory table at sector 1685288 (size 2048 bytes).
Looks like a XBOXDVDFS filesystem.
# ls -l /mnt/xboxdvd
You can also specify an image file instead of a device to xboxdvdfs (should work, but my images were broken). This stuff should be all moved to kernel space (one IOCTL for unlocking the drive) and the filesystem into a proper kernel filesystem. Sorry for the crappy source (no proper error/exit handling), but it seems to work for now and it's userspace so it shouldn't hurt your system :-) The xboxdvdfs driver should be able to mount Xbox 360 images too, if I've understood correctly (should be the same format?).
[/QUOTE]
Download: here
News-Source: xboxhacker.net / xboxhacker.net forums
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Bunnie about Xbox 360 Kiosk Demo Disc
>> Bunnie posted some comments on his blog about the recent findings with the Xbox360 Kiosk Demo Disc (read these newsitems to catch-up if you missed it: Disc release, More info, Shaders editing and Run own swf).
Andrew "bunnie" Huang is one of the main guys behind the original Xbox hacking, he's also known for his book "Hacking the Xbox". Here's what he said on his blog:
[QUOTE]
I've also been observing the progress on the Xbox360 hacking, and I'm impressed. The hacking scene is more or less an organized anarchy that is frightfully productive. Now that I've had a little brush with being a manager in my day job, I can see that clarity of purpose obviates the need for management; people just self-organize and things happen. I could ponder on this for many parargaphs, but I'll spare you my treatise on human social behavior.
At any rate, some very interesting things are afoot. Much of it stems from the discovery of an all-media bootable kiosk demo disk. Many hackers will instantly recognize the value of this, but it's still interesting to reflect on the significance of this find.
Like the original Xbox, the Xbox360 uses a media flag on its executables. The media flag tells the OS what type of media it should be on; typically, games are released with the flag set to Microsoft's proprietary secure Xbox DVD format (which is in itself not that secure...). Significantly, only the executable is signed for a game; the data sections typically are not signed (presumably for performance reasons). Thus, one has the ability to fuzz the executable by corrupting the data sections, potentially invoking a buffer overrun or some other unintentional behavior-if one could effectively modify the data sections. Remember that this is normally not possible, since modifying the data segment requires making a copy to a writeable media, and this contradicts the signed media flag.
Thus, the run-anywhere demo disk now enables software hackers to create and test the interaction of signed executables with modified game data using no tool other than a DVD-RW drive (and an Xbox360 console, still considerably rare and difficult to obtain in the US). Some of the more interesting modifiable data regions include Shockwave Flash movies, and the pixel shaders executed by the GPU (more info can be found on the xboxhacker.net website). Of particular interest is the MEMEXPORT shader command in the 360, which could enable people to dump physical memory to the screen (where it can be digitized or extracted with a sniffer upstream of the ANA chip), or to some other peripheral function. Presuming plaintext kernel code can be extracted this way, it bootstraps further efforts in vulnerability analysis of the code running in the Xbox...and so forth. Of course, its quite possible that this hole is plugged, since Microsoft's NGSCB spec calls for the Northbridge to limit DMA access from the graphics card to main memory. Furthermore, buffer overrun exploits have questionable applicability since each process runs as its own virtual machine and rumors has it that the no-execute bit is used on heap space. Still, I'm very surprised that such a media was even released into the wild by Microsoft...their own worst enemy is their own haste to get to the market and carelessness; security is for naught without consideration of human factors. Very exciting! Perhaps the Xbox360 will be opened without the need for significant hardware hacking.
[/QUOTE]
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(Tuesday 03 January 2006 00:45 EST) - (Category: Xbox360) - (Posted by::
)
Xbox 360 Xpad support for FreeBSD in HEAD
>> From free60.org/Ed S.:
[QUOTE]
FreeBSD 7.0-CURRENT now supports the Xbox 360 gamepad as well. Just build a kernel with the uhid(4) driver.
Next week, it will be merged to the RELENG_6 branch, which means that FreeBSD 6.0 users can just cvsup their sources and use the gamepad. This also means that FreeBSD 6.1 and FreeBSD 7.0 (if ever released) will support the gamepad by default.
[/QUOTE]
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Xbox Live 360 Gets, Fixes Leaderboard Problems
>> From Major Nelson (Xbox Live Director of Programming):
[QUOTE]
Over the New Year period we experienced an issue with some of the leader boards and stats for Xbox 360 titles. We have identified the issue, and have been working on resolving it.
What happend was not a result of a hack (or hacks) or anything else security related. This is a bug, plain and simple.
Edit: The issue is now fixed, and stats have been restored, with the exception of Geometry Wars:evolved. The team continues to work on that title's leaderboards.
[/QUOTE]
Read More: majornelson.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
XboxMediaCenter (XBMC) 2006-01-01 CVS T3CH build
>> T3CH released a new CVS compile of XboxMediaCenter(info).
This T3CH-compile is a BAREBONE package (with just a few thirdparty scripts and with just the default skin) compiled with XDK v5849.
Here's the added stuff from the changelog since the 2005-12-25 CVS release:
* added: http api "getshares" and "getmedialocation" now accept "files" as a share type
* added: Conditional window origins for dialogs.
* added: Builtin functions SetVolume(percent) and Mute.
* added: Info values for Player.GetVolume (int + label) and for Player.IsMuted (bool)
* added: Play action on a folder in videos will build internal playlist recursively and start playing immediately
* added: ListItem.Thumb and ListItem.Label to the InfoManager.
* added: new Http Api command "getmedialocation".
* added: advanced configuration option for path substitution; look in xboxmediacetner.xml for details.
* added: custom slideshows in My Pictures via m3u playlists (only images are queued into the slideshow)
... rest of changelog (including many fixes): here.
Keep in mind this is a CVS snapshot of the current development tree. It's not an official (stable) point release. Use only if you know what you are doing.
Official Site: http://www.xboxmediacenter.com / http://sourceforge.net/projects/xbmc
Discussion Forum Thread: forums.xbox-scene.com
Download Binaries: n/a (built with XDK) | Download SourceCode: here
Run your Own Flash (.swf) Files on the Xbox 360
>> We already reported before that the Xbox 360 Demo Kiosk could be used to playback your own WMV-hd video and that Hexic, an Xbox LIVE Arcade demo game on the disc, was not more then a flash-based game (it's even playable, albeit very slowly, on a PC webbrowser with flash plugin).
This thread on our forums talk about how it's possible to run your own .swf (flash) files. That makes the Hexic .xex not much more then a custom build flash player.
From illicitx, kanderson on forums.xbox-scene.com:
[QUOTE]
After examining the SWF files closer I was able to see that the files on the demo disk use Zlib compression.
I booted my own SWF file by replacing the main HexicDeluxe.swf with a Zlib signed replacement HexicDeluxe.swf with text. Animations are working too.
swf info: Width: 1280 ; Height: 720 ; FPS: 60
Ok, a bigger update on the Flash part of things. Arakon and me (kanderson) have been playing around with this stuff:
1.The 360 Flash Player (xex) is extremely unstable, and seems to be unfinished as to date.
2.Some of the game functions refer to XENON, which would also point to the dev status of the player and the game.
3.The player plays Flash 6, but not all seems to be implemented; the 6 event system, and Object.registerclass (which is needed to code in the 6 style OOP way) don't work. Events need to be set like you should set them in Flash 5. (on a movieclip, using onClipEvent([event])).
4.fsCommands do work, but are unstable, and can cause crashes. fscommand("exec", ".\bla\device\file.xex"); does not work.
5.Strangely enough hexic shows getURL being implemented for not only the "hacky" way of calling fscommands, hexic also uses a "real" getURL to go to the shop webpage. We've tried to do this, resulting in Arakon's 360 disconnecting from xbox live upon calling the command. This might point to the implementation of a webbrowser (!) either in the current 360, or in the XENON dev boxes.
6.Animation works like it should, and judging by the game HEXIC, it runs extremly fast on the 360)
7.There are some strange properties set on _root, supposedly for live support.
[/QUOTE]
As this looks like a custom (but very fast) flash player it's unknown yet what's exactly possible (which features/commands/scripts/... it has support for) and what not. Not just any flash file that runs on PC will run on your 360, but it looks like some custom flash-based homebrew games/applications/tools/... will be possible.
Note: joystiq.com reports people are modifying the original Hexic flash to fake their Hexic LIVE achievements. This is of course something we do not support, nor will we allow any discussion about it. Just like for Halo2, we do not allow discussions about cheating on Xbox LIVE, it ruins the experience for the others.
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
2005 Year In Review
>> It's that time of year again, when I sit down, take a look at my notes for the past year and scribble down some of the more interesting, and notable events of the year. This year, that wasn't so easy. As Xbox (especially first gen xbox) goes, it was a dry year, and over-shadowed a lot by hype, lies, and at times misinformation.
January
2005 started with follow-ups to many stories that were noteworthy at the end of 2004. TeamXodus with another installment introduces us to the mia Skryer add-on for their chips, and announces a new No Solder Adapter for 1.6 boards. TeamXecuter(info) shows us the Xapt3r solderless adapter, and Crystal Pro switches. They follow that up by giving away 100 chips/Switch/LCD bundles in an XS contest. TeamXtender announces the XCM Xbox replacement cases. SmartXX(info) Lite OPX 1mb variant is announced and hits the shops. Those Kai(info) guys give us MacOS PreRelease to wet our MAC appetites for Xbox Tunneling services. XenoChip announce 4/8mb versions of their chips, while SpiderChip makes excuses for their flawed Chips. X-Changer Chip announced, and ships with the scenes first Open Source OS. Rounding out the month XBMC got notable mentions in the Washington post in an awesome article showing off the potential of a modded Xbox paired with XBMC. Somewhere in that whole mess, Sony is ordered to pay 27$ million for Dual shock licence. Microsoft comes off smelling like a rose in that case, and gets a piece of the action.
February 2005
Xecuter Case Designs appear again, this time a new Desktop case variant. XenoChip blames issues with faulty and dead chips on "clones", while clearly, some of them simply don't work. People sure love Xodus, as they cloned their Xenium(info) again. Xodus comes back with the Xenium S.P. Solderless Pro Adapter and matching chip, designed to fit all boards. They also get around to announcing the winners for their previous contests. TeamXchip tries to compete, with their announcement of the X-Lite(info). Muppet tries as well, with their first foray into the xbox market with the MuppetX Modchip. Xtender announces their new Xtender 2 with new Hydra Cable designed to fix IDE noise and incompatibility issues.
Microsoft didn't Leave February alone either.. they announced the Power Cable Replacement Program, an effort on thier part to downplay the seriousness of issues with the Xbox Power supply that we in the scene have come to know as common knowledge.(other link, link, link)
We learn that the name for the new console has been solidified as Xbox360. More rumors and less denials about the Halo Movie Project reared it's head again. KAI did it again in February, with their release of KAI for Linux.
For some, the most interesting event of the month, possibly the year was watching Tecmo, the Game house behind Ninja Gaiden and DOA take aim and shut down NinjaHacker.Net. More interesting, was watching the scene rally behind the staff of that site and support him with kind words and donations for a legal defense fund.
February also provided me with the chance to review the Xtreme Enterprises "s" Controller Replacement Shells, XPFS from Team Xtender, while Xantium had the opportunity to review the complete Xecuter lineup at the time (Xecuter3CE + Switch + XLCD) On a good note, Xbox-Scene hit a major milestone for any website, much less one for a less than legal scene with 200000 members. A small and informal group of members I affectionately call the "crew" met again for their second event, Modding Mayhem 2005.
March 2005
Case Modders rejoiced, as Xecuters X3 Control Panels arrive, Blue Canadian LE Case/Bundles arrive, and Xtender tries to entice other devs and shops with bulk rate purchase of their Flashing Xbox Jewel.
Halo fans got news about the new Halo2 Map Pack. We're also told of a doubling of efforts so to speak, with Bungie doubling the HALO2 Staff to get Halo3 done for Xbox360.
In other news, GentooX reached it's second anniversary, and X-DLS Linux Distro was successfully ported to Xbox. The Chip devs treated us to SmartXX and Xodus Solderless Adapters in March.
We found some time for reviews in March, with Xantiums SmartXX OPX review, and my O2XModification's Case Review. In the "you got to laugh" dept for the month, we had more Xbox Power cord Stories and fires and electrical issues, and we were entertained with the claims that Europe would get 1 Million 360's by the end of the year. Microsoft also gave us the announcements about XNA and how it helps game devs get hih quality games to the masses, faster, and better than before.
One of the most interesting events, wasn't even an Xbox Event. Some really smart guys spent some time, and Exploited the Wipeout Pure Game Web Browser for the PSP so that it could be exploited to view content of our choosing. Microsoft Power Cord fiasco reared it's head again, and this time with sites like GameSpot showing their ignorance on the issue.
April 2005
It was a quiet month, with Xecuter launching their Blue LE toned Control Panels, and finally getting us a new X2 Bios, first in almost a year. Muppet released a Universal No Solder Adapter for their chips.
Viral Marketing.. I don't know if it was a popular term before this year, but Microsoft made it a household name with the OurColony.net advertising gimmick in the month of April. Later, got a glimpse of the 360 Controller although at the time we weren't so sure.
In the Interesting Dept, Windows 98 was up and running and legal on an Xbox, while GameStop and Electronics Boutique made news announcing their planned merger to create the worlds largest Game Retailer. In the "where do they get this stuff" dept, Goldman Sach predicted 3 million consoles (360) shipped in December 2005. (hold back the laughter..) I Squeezed in some time to push out the Xenium S.P.Ice Review. I was pleased to see Xs Sponsor BMMods.com get their ad into mainstream printed media. Didn't suck to see the XS logo proudly displayed either. :)
May - June 2005
A quiet period.. with the only real action coming from the 360 campaigns like OurColony which revealed dashboard, ring of light, and other details. We were also teased about 360 being "water cooled", and we treated to the Every Ten Minutes Giveaway campaign. A full explosion of 360 details surfaces, including Launch Date Confirmed. Nvidea announces the end of shipping of Xbox (1) components. Microsoft also agreed to pay NVidia royalties to ensure backwards compatibility for Xbox(1) games on 360. (to the glee of future 360 owners)
Playstation and Nintendo, not wanting to be forgotten, also made some revelations about their upcoming consoles.
TeamXtender Announced the XPFS Pro Keyboard/Mouse device adapter for Xbox, while TeamX-Changer announced their v2 chip. Later, Xtender announce the XCM Xbox Replacement cases. Easybuy manages to squeeze out a solderless adapter that is lifted from the designs of Xodus.
Legal issues also made news, with Tecmo dropping their lawsuit against the owner and staff of NinjaHacker.net. Pandora's Cube, gaming shop pleaded guilty to commit conspiracy felony copyright infringement and other charges.
In the monthly milestones area, Xlink Kai reached 200000 members for their online gaming tunnel service, and the Xbox-Linux Project reached it's third year mark. (and the launch of their new Free60.org site) I also had an opportunity to interview Bennet Grill, who won a $105k Scholarship at the Intel ISEF.
July 2005
Finally, some first glimpses of the Xecuter IR device. IR wasn't the only thing that put them in the news, as Xecuter was seen on TV again. TeamXecuter also announced their intention to sponsor/co-develop a legal Linux based Bios/OS for all modchips.
Xbox Live reaches the 2 Million Subscribers mark. XBMC gets exposure from mainstream media in an awesome article. Xored TEM emu engine announced, now no one needs to use Evolution X Dashboard any longer. The scenes best Trainers can now be enjoy on your choice of dashboard.
In 360 News, it went into mass production in July, and we got an early glimpse of the beta XDK Devkit. Later we were treated to some in the wild photos. Some early innards photos also appeared.
Halo 2 Hacking.. temporarily on hold. Bungie flipped out.. scaring a lot of sites in the scene, forcing some to shut down completely, while others, like us at XS, decided to close the dedicated HALO 2 Hacking section due to abuse.
GTA San Andreas has it's game rating changed due to the fact that an outside mod called Hot Coffee that alters the game. This is an industry first that a console game, that normally isn't customizable etc.. is altered on a users home units.. and the repercussions are felt so widely as to affect the manufacturer. Following that, key game shops removed the original game as it was originally rated.
Xodus announces the Summer Surprises Campaign. (surprise)
August 2005
In Chip related news for August, SpiderGX chip was announced. Xecuter X3IR updated photography appears, and SmartXX "released" photos of the innards of the 360 Dev Kits.
With 360 marketing moving into full swing, we get full disclosure about prcing, products, and accessories. Microsoft launch new Viral Marketing campaign to lure more sheep with the origenxbox360.com. The Every10Minutes campaign launches. Some shops only looking for press, release details about mega 360 xbox bundles for big bucks. First real photos of 360 Game packaging appears.
Moron, er, man dies after 50 hours of near continuous online game play. In other moron moves Bachus, one of 4 original Xbox designers, take lead position at Infinium Labs. (boy.. talk about your slippery slope into hell) In other sad news, XiFi, formerly ProjectDeck closes shop, and releases designs of prototype to the world.
I managed to get the TeamXtender Xbox Case Repleacement review done after 2 months of trying.
Sepetember 2005
In another quiet month for the scene, Xbox Live, gets an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Technology and Advanced New Media. Congrats to the Xbox Live team! Canada, finally got it's own major free giveaway for the 360, "beFirstToPlay"
Xecuter gave us some more photos of their X3IR to dream about. DreamX owners got a patch for their over-priced broken Xbox's that allow them to actually play xbox games without breaking them.
October 2005
Chips news, Xecuter X3IR shown off in first real photos, Franz tries to spin the whole Stolen XDK fiasco from the August SmartXX news. SmartXX, help bury the Franz shenanigans with the announcement of the V3 chip. Akira 2 Se and XenoFX modchips announced. (and quickly forgotten)
Australian Courts Rule, Modchips are illegal again. Microsoft settles all lawsuits between them and RealNetworks. End result, Real got a boatload of cash, and is now an official developer for LIVE marketplace. Microsoft got their hands caught in the cookie jar again, allegedly lifting soundtracks from band Ink and Dagger in Amped3.
360 in the news as well, with the Power Brick of Doom photos appearing.. and the launch of the new XBOX.com and forums relaunched.
In the sad news dept., TD, "theDaddy" from TeamXlink retires, and bid us a fond farewell. Not all news was sad in October, as Xbox-Scene.com forums hit another milestone and grew to 250,000 plus members.
November 2005
Sorry folks.. 360 is the story, and pretty much the only story in November. As much as I wanted to try and limit the 360 news in this review, it's pretty clear the White Elephant that was 360 sat on the scene.
Xbox360 disassembled and analyzed all over the scene. Others started in with their Frankenstein experiments to see what it can and can't do. Others gave us even more info to whet our appetites. Microsoft showed us they are perfectly willing and able to completely sidestep the quality control process and send games straight to press before they completed Certification.
Zero Hour Launched, and it was a huge event in the desert. I myself became a part of the launch news a bit, by visiting a lineup at Best Buy the night before the launch of the 360. I took some photos, interviewed a few people.. and left only to return the next morning. Stood in line for over an hour, and scored my 360. The interesting part of that was being in the same line with the SMASHMYXBOX.com guy.
First huge Compatibility updated for 360 is made available immediately at launch. A week in, I gave my first impressions of the console. Free60.org starts to review early findings.
In non-360 news, Xodus announces they are back in production, but where is the summer surprise from July? My X-Changer v2 review also appeared..
December 2005
December, both an anti-climatic month after the November North American launch of the 360, and a month of new things to come with the Japan launch, which was met with a lukewarm reception. Some lineups for the Jap console could be counted on a pair of hands.
Pirate release groups started to feed the frenzy with the releases of some 360 Game Isos and utils. The average user can't use them yet, but it will fuel interest, and drive the modchip guys to get going on a 360 modchip.
Halo Zero was released, as an independent effort. It's a nice 2d side scrolling game, that loosely fallows the adventures of the Master Chief as we've known him.
Chip news, SmartXX v3 finally goes retail after months of hype. More hype for the X3IR from Xecuter. Xodus surprised us all with 2 announcements. First was to announce the second announcement. The second, was to announce their new 24k Gold Plated chip. Xantium's SpiderGX Modchip review rounds out the month.
Well.. that pretty much covers most of the year in my eyes. Teams like the XBMC team gave us updates on a monthly basis, improving what is hands down still the scene's best and most useful app/dashboard. It is the killer app for a modded Xbox. Rest of the homebrew scene treated us to a few updates of some old favorites, and Shallax and other linux devs gave us some new additions to our Linux on Xbox collections.
What does the New Year hold for us? Clearly, with have the Modchip devs scrambling to deliver the first 360 modchip, and other pirate release groups lining up to give us their dumps, the next month or two should prove really interesting for 360 owners.
For those of us still enjoying the original console in all it's modded glory, we can expect all the teams to release yet more modchips I'm sure, whether we need them or not. What I'm waiting for is the continued price drop that will make the Xbox(1) a real sexy purchase in the new year. As long as we got XBMC to slap on it, the original console is going to be an awesome unit for some time to come.
For commentary on this review, check out HSDEMONZ.com later tonight or tomorrow where I'll spend some time and discuss certain events, and why I thought they were of interest. Blogcast to follow.
From the staff of Xbox-Scene, I'd like to wish you and yours, a Happy New Year!
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(Sunday 01 January 2006 16:17 EST) - (Category: Xbox_Xbox360) - (Posted by::
)
ccXgui 2.0 W.I.P. news
>> From [XC]D-Ice on ccxgui.xboxmediacenter.de:
[QUOTE]
I thought that I would share the latest screenshots of the development of the new ccXgui(info) v.2. As you can see, there has been some changes in both the design, but also a complete re-write of the entire code.
As features, I can list the following... (atm.).
* Direct Share edit (Tab 1)
* Theme select (Tab 2)
* Personal theme selection (Tab 2)
* Once again... Service control (Tab 2)
* Better debug output (Tab 2)
* Important file checking (Tab 2)
* More inteligent code... less lines, same result
* REMOTE CONTROL... More info to come..heh (Tab 3)
* Alot more.... :)
So stay tuned for more screenshots... and mabye a test release soon :D
You can watch the screenshots below...
[/QUOTE]
Official Site: http://ccxgui.xboxmediacenter.de/ccxgui2/
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
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